Productivity and External Rebalancing

21-22 April 2016, Prague

The twelfth conference of Competitiveness Research Network (CompNet), jointly organised with the European Central Bank and the Czech National Bank, took place in Prague on 21-22 April, 2016.

Competitiveness gaps are increasingly seen as the main cause of economic divergences as well as the breeding ground for some of the most disruptive downturns, such as the latest EU crisis. Therefore, enhancing competitiveness is broadly acknowledged as the critical building block for achieving sustainable growth.

Against this background, CompNet has been working since late 2011 to generate cutting-edge research in the field, research which will result in solid policy advice. This has implied the creation of novel databases and indicators as well the involvement of an increasing number of researchers in relevant areas, ranging from trade to productivity and from external imbalances to global value chain operations.

Specific examples of relevant topics include:

Productivity measurement issues;

Productivity and resource reallocation;

The determinants of productivity;

Trade and competitiveness;

Trade elasticities;

Competitiveness and macroeconomic imbalances;

Regional Global Value Chains.

Professor Andrew B. Bernard (Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth) and Professor Jan De Loecker (Princeton University) have participated as keynote speakers.